It has emerged that Scottish giants Celtic made a last gasp attempt to poach Cardiff City attacker Josh Murphy from the Bluebirds on transfer deadline day.

A Celtic source apparently told Football Insider that after they had been rebuffed in their attempts to sign Newcastle United's Christian Atsu, attentions turned to Murphy.

However, Cardiff were adamant that the versatile attacker would not be leaving before the deadline, leaving the reigning Scottish Champions frustrated once again.

QUIZ: Are these 15 ex-Cardiff players still playing – yes or no?

Having lost influential full-back Lee Peltier to Championship rivals West Brom just hours earlier, it would have taken a lot for them to part with another of Neil Harris' first-choice men.

So far this season Murphy has scored once and assisted three more in 17 second-tier appearances although it has done little to help their ailing season.

Following their relegation from the Premier League, Cardiff currently sit in 11th place with seven points between them and the top-six, where many expected them to be sitting comfortably by this stage.

The verdict

I think this is a positive sign for fans of Cardiff.

There was plenty of frustration on deadline day that they had been willing to let Peltier leave for West Brom but this should show that the club are not totally lacking ambition.

Murphy has not had the best of seasons but he is definitely a useful player to have, having shown his quality in the Championship before with Norwich.

Seven points is not an impossible gap to make up and they will need all their attacking weight in order to close it.